Military - Overview
The Museum's superb military collections document the history of the men and women of the armed forces of the United States. The collections include ordnance, firearms, and swords; uniforms and insignia; national and military flags and banners; and many other objects.
The strength of the collections lies in their enormous depth. Some 3,000 military small arms and 2,400 civilian firearms document the mechanical and technological history of the infantryman's weapons from the beginning of the gunpowder era to the present. Among the 4,000 swords and knives in the collection are many spectacular presentation pieces. The collections also include Civil War era telegraph equipment, home front artifacts from both world wars, early computers such as ENIAC, Whirlwind, and Sage, and materials carried at antiwar demonstrations.
"Military - Overview" showing 96 items.
Page 1 of 10
A Lock in the Rhone Canal
- Description
- Ink wash sketch on white paper. The work depicts a lock on the Rhone Canal in German Alsace. A German village is visible on the left. A Chauchat gun emplacement manned by two allied soldiers is on the right.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1918
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
- ID Number
- AF*25795
- catalog number
- 25795
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
After the Battle of Charteves
- Description
- Charcoal and ink wash sketch on white paper. The work depicts a damaged village in the aftermath of the Battle of Charteves. A shell-torn church and a number of smaller shell-torn buildings make up the village. A man, possibly a soldier, is in the street in the right foreground.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-07
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
- ID Number
- AF*25800
- catalog number
- 25800
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Barracks at Battalion Headquarters on the Verdun
- Description
- Ink wash on paper. The work depicts American barracks on the Verdun front in France near the end of World War I. The roofs of the barracks and adjacent dugouts are protected by sand bags.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1918
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
- ID Number
- AF*25808
- catalog number
- 25808
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Billets in Cell of the Old Monastery of Rangeval
- Description
- Charcoal sketch on blue-gray paper. The work depicts a group of soldiers billeted in a cell of the old Monastery of Rangeval near Boucq, France. A drawing on the wall above the sleeping pallets shows France (the woman) killing "the German monster." Soldiers are lounging on cots beneath the drawing. A line of drying laundry hangs on the left side of the sketch.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1918
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
- ID Number
- AF*25809
- catalog number
- 25809
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Bombarded Town in the North, Toul Sector
- Description
- Charcoal sketch on white card stock. The work depicts damaged buildings in a town near Toul which has been deserted by its civilian population. The shell-torn buildings are at the left of a canal running through the middle of the sketch. A soldier is watering two horses in the canal at the right.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1918
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
- ID Number
- AF*25810
- catalog number
- 25810
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Boppard on the Rhine in the American Sector
- Description
- Charcoal sketch on off-white paper. The work depicts the town of Boppard, Germany from across the Rhine river. Two steamships are shown on the river. A church is visible on the river bank in the left of the sketch.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1918
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
- ID Number
- AF*25811
- catalog number
- 25811
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Courtyard of Ruined Chateau in Toul
- Description
- Charcoal, ink wash, and white crayon sketch on paper. The work depicts the courtyard of a large chateau in Toul France. One of the walls of the chateau is badly damaged. Several soldiers, equipment, and trucks are in the courtyard. A label attached to the mount, underneath the sketch, reads: "COURTYARD OF RUINED CHATEAU IN THE TOUL SECTOR NOW USED AS/REPAIR WORKS FOR AUTOS AND TRUCKS./PEIXOTTO 173."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-05
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
- ID Number
- AF*25821
- catalog number
- 25821
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Effects of Shell Explosion in Town
- Description
- Charcoal sketch on white paper. The work depicts several damaged buildings in a village near Toul, France after a shell attack. A road winds through the sketch between the buildings and a church on the left. Three soldiers are shown walking along the road. A label attached to the cardboard under the sketch reads: "EFFECTS OF SHELL EXPLOSION IN TOWN/ON NORTH TOUL SECTOR/BY E. PEIXOTTO/TRANSFERRED FROM THE WAR DEPARTMENT/2982"
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-06
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
- ID Number
- AF*25824
- catalog number
- 25824
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
First Americans Crossing the Rhine
- Description
- Charcoal sketch on paper. The work depicts American troops crossing a bridge over the Rhine in the city of Koblenz, Germany. The bridge, made of planks laid over a series of boats, cuts vertically through the foreground.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1918
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
- ID Number
- AF*25826
- catalog number
- 25826
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Flirey
- Description
- Charcoal sketch on paper. The work depicts a ruined church spire atop a hill in Flirey, France. Troops and army trucks are in the road near the remains of a communicating trench in the foreground.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1918
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
- ID Number
- AF*25827
- catalog number
- 25827
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center